Having your children’s eyes checked regularly is important. After all, vision plays a critical role in how your child learns about the world. But how early should you start?
Kids should have their first comprehensive eye exam at age 3. Unless their eye doctor suggests otherwise, they should continue to have eye exams every two years.
Eye exams at the optometrist are important even once your child starts school and has visual screenings. Visual screenings test for visual acuity (clarity and sharpness), but healthy eyes are about more than just 20-20 vision.
Other areas of vision such as colour vision or focus and tracking might present problems that aren’t tested for in visual screenings.
Here are more tips to help you keep your kids’ eyes healthy.
Things to look for with kids’ vision:
Observe how your child looks at things at home and at school. Some signs that your child needs to be checked for possible vision problems include:
- Sitting too close to the TV or blackboard. When kids have trouble seeing, one of the first ways they naturally compensate is by getting closer or holding things nearer to their faces.
- Squinting and other signs of discomfort. Vision problems can cause kids to squint, rub their eyes often, be unusually sensitive to light, or tilt their heads when looking at things.
- Having trouble coordinating. Hand-eye or body-eye coordination during physical activities such as catch or biking can arise from difficulty seeing.
- Showing unusually low attention or interest. Low attention and distractibility are hallmarks of attention deficit problems (ADHD), but these same symptoms accompany vision problems. Vision problems at a young age can easily lower interest in close activities such as reading, colouring or puzzles.
If you have concerns about your child’s eye health please give us a call on 0214277655 and we will discuss the options available to you.
